Monty Williams says New Orleans Hornets need better shot selection

For years, as the Golden State Warriors enticed opponents into an up-tempo, laissez faire defensive mindset each game, it was often difficult to create a disciplined game plan.

Yet New Orleans Hornets Coach Monty Williams came up with what he thought might work Wednesday night against the Warriors at the New Orleans Arena.

“Great shot selection for us; the one thing we’ve talked about is taking a great shot over a good shot,” Williams said. “When I was in Portland (as an assistant), that’s the thing we struggled with.

“When we played against that team, when we were there, taking the first shot is not always the best shot to take. They want possessions. We’re a low-possession team because we guard deep into the clock. For us, offensively, we’ve got to take good shots. That will help our defense.”

Williams hoped the Hornets would guard against getting into a track meet with the run-happy Warriors, who came into Wednesday night’s game the 10th-leading scoring team in the NBA.

“It’s not to our advantage because you’d like to have David (West) and Emeka (Okafor) on the floor,” Williams said. “And those guys playing a fast-break, up-tempo game for 48 minutes, or even 35 to 40 minutes, to me doesn’t benefit us in the long haul. We’ve shown we can go small and win games. But the thing we’ve always said was, ‘Let’s impose our will on that team.’ Make teams match up to us instead of matching down.”

FAMILIAR SIGHT: Warriors first-year coach Keith Smart, who hails from Baton Rouge and gave Indiana its last national championship in 1987 across the street at the Superdome when he hit the game-winning shot, boosted the game’s attendance a bit.

“Everybody wants tickets now, and I can’t use the excuse that I can’t pay for them,” Smart said. “I used to get away with that, but it’s still good to come back. There are so many people coming tonight that had a hand in helping my development as a person, helped me prolong my livelihood as a basketball player and coach.

“It’s always good to come back to New Orleans, being right next door to a very, very special place for me. It’s great for my family to be here to see me doing what I enjoy doing, and that’s coaching basketball.”

Smart purchased 50 tickets to the game.

SUCCESSFUL EFFORT: The consortium of young professionals groups that Tuesday announced a two-for-one ticket initiative for Wednesday night’s game and the Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Day matinee against the Toronto Raptors reported that they had sold out the allotment of 350 tickets for Wednesday night’s game.

Since the NBA announced last month it was buying the team in order to polish its economic model and find a local owner, the business community — spearheaded by the Hornets Business Council — has generated nearly $400,000 in ticket commitments from 29 businesses. The business community has purchased more than 16,000 tickets through the broad-based initiative.

Heading into Wednesday night’s game, the Hornets needed to average 14,696 — or a total attendance for the remaining six games in January of 88,187 — to keep an opt-out clause in the lease from becoming eligible for use. With Wednesday’s crowd of 13,532, the aggregate total over the next five games now is 74,655.

BASELESS REPORT:A story on Forbes Magazine’s website that indicated Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, a billionaire who was unsuccessful in his attempt to purchase the Warriors, might be ready to buy the Hornets for $450 million and move the team to San Jose, Calif.

Sources with knowledge of the Hornets’ situation dismissed the veracity of the story, and they said no talks with Ellison had taken place and that the goal remained to keep the team in New Orleans with local ownership.

IT’S A BUSINESS: When the Hornets waived forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu on Tuesday — the day NBA teams had to decide whether to guarantee non-guaranteed contracts for the rest of the year — New Orleans saved almost half the $885,120 Mensah-Bonsu was due.

“He’s in a tough situation,” Williams said. “We didn’t foresee him being in the rotation. He got hurt (an elbow infection that has sidelined him for 17 games), and that took him out of our plans for a while.

“We felt like it was a move we had to make before the date. Some of that stuff goes over my head because I don’t even think about that stuff. We feel like we have Jason (Smith) and Aaron (Gray) and David (West) and a number of guys who can fill in in that spot and give us what Pops may have been able to give us.”